


Preparing for the Year-End Party

by winterune



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: (was supposed to be for it anyway lol), Gen, Holidays, New Years, New Years party, Post-Crisis Core (Compilation of FFVII), Pre-OG, Shinra Holiday 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:01:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28671171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterune/pseuds/winterune
Summary: The year is 0006, and the Shinra Company is preparing for a grand year-end party. As Kunsel sees to how the preparation is going, he remembers of a time, four years ago, when he and Zack helped set up the tree decorations.
Relationships: Zack Fair & Kunsel
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10





	Preparing for the Year-End Party

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this using the Shinra Holiday 2020 prompts, but alas I did not finish it in time.  
> Anyway, the prompts I used were a combination of Day 3: Ghosts of Christmas Past and Day 5: Office Holiday Party.
> 
> Despite his status as a minor character who only had a little screen time, the mails Kunsel sent Zack gave him much personality that he quickly became a favorite. I plan to write more Kunsel fics in the future, if I have the time, but first, here's my first try writing from his POV. Hope you enjoy :)

The Company would hold a grand party in a day. Those types of parties attended by all the high-tier socialites: celebrities and conglomerates, army generals and world leaders. Everything would be decorated in gold—from golden lighting to golden wreaths, a golden fountain at the center where they would serve endless amounts of cocktail or wine or whatever rich-people liquor they would have.

Kunsel hated these parties. He’d like it better if they let him skip, but of course they wouldn’t. After the stunt he’d pulled a few years ago when he’d left in search of Zack, the leash they had around his neck had tightened, and now, a kid followed him day in and day out.

The _kid_ —seventeen-year-old and a Second-Class—stood a little ways away, his head secured within his metal helm. His arms were behind his back as he watched the preparations for the party with utmost intensity. Whether they’d tasked him to keep watch or the kid was simply fascinated with all the light and glitter, Kunsel didn’t know, nor did he care to find out. He’d had come to Kunsel just days after his punishment, saying Kunsel inspired him to become the best SOLDIER there ever was, declaring he was a _fan_ , that he’d absorb anything Kunsel could teach him—it had been four years, and Kunsel never bought the lie.

“Careful with the star!”

In one corner of the three-story ballroom was a massive twenty-foot tall tree. Men stood on ladders and erected beams, decorating it in gold wreaths and ornaments, silver snowflakes and crystal balls. The little lights draped around the branches glow bright yellow and red, blue and green. On those beams, the men were reaching toward the treetop to place the massive star on their hands. They hollered “Okay!” and “Don’t worry!” and for a split moment, Kunsel was in a different time, underneath a different tree, looking up at a different figure on the beams reaching forward with the star, shouting, _Careful, Zack!_

Zack had glanced down the twenty-foot height, his lips spreading wide into an ear-to-ear grin. “You worry too much!” he’d said, and maybe Kunsel had, he didn’t remember. The man who had been supposed to place the star had stumbled, and the star had fallen out of his grasp—right into Zack’s clutch, just as his friend had been passing beneath the beams. The man had bowed and apologized, but Zack had only laughed it off, then offered to help. Before anyone could say anything, he’d climbed the ladder with the star held to his chest. 

He hadn’t had to make a back flip. He hadn’t had to show off how nimble he was. “I wanted to make them laugh,” he’d later said. He’d successfully placed the star, then watched with everyone else as it shone bright white after they turned on the lights. “It’s the holidays and they’re stuck here prepping for tomorrow’s party.”

“They could at least let us go home for the holidays,” Kunsel said. “But no, of course we gotta go to the party.”

“At least the food’s good.” Kunsel had to agree. “You’re coming tomorrow, right?” They had been heading back to their quarters. Kunsel spared his friend a glance, then nodded. “Good, I was afraid you’d skip and leave me alone in that den of monsters.”

His laugh had been a reflex—a soft tremble that shook his shoulders. Zack was right, but—

“They’re people, Zack.”

“Repulsive people. Those fake smiles.” Zack forced an exaggerated shudder down his spine. “I’d rather take on a horde of monsters.”

A glint in those blue, Mako-rimmed eyes as Zack met his gaze, the conspiratorial smirk—Kunsel couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath. They _could_ do that. Missions waited for no one. If they accepted, not even the President could force them to attend the party. It could be their celebration of Zack’s First-Class promotion, though Zack had been a First-Class for over half a year, and they’d gone out for drinks multiple times to celebrate too.

An inkling of a plan was forming at the back of his mind—on what types of missions they should take, ones that would require a First-Class SOLDIER so no one could refute their absence from the party—when Zack said, “I still have to attend, though.” Kunsel’s eyes flitted to his friend—at the resigned smile on his profile that he quickly covered with a grin. “Sephiroth told me to. We’re the only First-Class SOLDIERs now. I can’t bail.”

People said Zack Fair was like a puppy—a bundle of excessive energy bounding here and there in search of the next stimulating experience. And maybe he was, with that knack of turning even the gloomiest situations into a bright and hopeful one. But if they knew where to look, they’d find the cracks in the bright grin, and they’d know that Zack was only trying his best.

“Hey, I’ll be there,” Kunsel said, his gaze shifting back to the sleek corridors of the SOLDIER quarters. “It won’t be that bad.”

And there it was. The slight pause, the surprised blink, then the crinkle in his eyes. That was the true smile that came from Zack’s heart. Then again, a mandatory year-end party was the least gloomy situation they could ever find themselves in.

* * *

“Hey.” 

The quiet call drew his attention to his left. Tseng was approaching from the double-door entrance, always dressed in that impeccable black suit. Always cool, always composed, Kunsel could never understand the no-nonsense leader of the Turks. Zack had trusted him enough to ask him to protect Aerith, yet when Kunsel had gone to him the moment news of Zack’s disappearance spread, Tseng had kept his silence. 

The Turks’ leader joined his side, and, in a voice low enough that only he could hear, said, “Don’t think about wrecking this place.” Not even a twitch of a brow or a flash of emotion crossed those cold brown eyes. Kunsel let out a soft, derisive scoff, his gaze shifting back to the men at the tree. The star was already sparkling bright on the treetop. 

“It’s been four years. What do you take me for?”

“A mad horse, one who’d go out of control once I take my eyes off him.” The response was so quick, Kunsel would have thought Tseng had prepared it beforehand. He broke into a small, crooked smile. “Just be a good boy and don’t give us reasons to take measures against you.”

“And what constitutes being a good boy?”

“Attend the party.” 

Of course. He could’ve answered that himself. Kunsel fought to keep his poker face as his fingers twitched behind his back.

Champagnes poured on clinking glasses and high-end food served on ornate china plates—no one person should be able to enjoy that luxury when, just beneath the plate, people were struggling to bring food to the table. The lilting laughter suffocated him, the masked smiles nauseating. He’d rather wreck the repulsive party and have disciplinary actions taken against him. 

_I was afraid you’d skip and leave me alone in that den of monsters_.

Kunsel exhaled a quiet sigh. If he’d known that was the last of the holidays he would spend with Zack, he might have pushed for them to skip the party and go monster hunting. But Fate had called his friend to Nibelheim the following summer, and now Zack was missing, and Kunsel would bet on his life that Shinra had something to do with it. The only person he knew who could help him remained silent, and Kunsel had to follow his orders if he wanted to stay alive, at least long enough, until he found Zack. 

A gentle squeeze to his shoulder grounded him to the present. Tseng’s voice was soft when he spoke:

“You’ve held it in this long. Hold it in longer.”

The hold remained for one second longer. He released it, then turned away. Kunsel didn’t look behind his back as Tseng disappeared behind the large double doors. 

**~ END ~**

**Author's Note:**

> Writing this fic gave me more ideas for future Kunsel fics. Let's see if I can actually write them. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy :) Please leave kudos/comments if you find the fic to your liking. Thank you!


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